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Cruising

This morning, I had a really good barefoot run around the neighbourhood, at a nice, relaxed pace. It wasn’t quite as hot as the last few days have been. It was 24C (and felt like 32C with the humidity factored in), partly cloudy, and there was a light breeze. Nice conditions, and a pleasant route.

On Saturday mornings in the ‘burbs, there’s virtually no car traffic, so I was able to run on the roads (whereas I have to stick to sidewalks on all my other other days). So, while I ran, I checked out people’s flower and vegetable gardens, ignored the few traffic lights their are on the route, and practiced sneaking up on rabbits.

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6 comments

I’ll tell you what I am…very inexperienced. I just went for a barefoot run and failed to think about the fact that it’s 82 degrees out. I got about .75 miles out and realized my feet were burning up! I had to hobble back, darting from shaded area to shaded area. Well, darting isn’t exactly accurate; limping quickly is more descriptive.

My right foot has a HUGE blister on the forefoot pad and a small blister at the heal, while my left foot has a blister at the heal. Now I’m all gimped up. What a dumby!!

Oh well, made a mistake; however, lesson learned. Barefoot run in the morning or wear VFFs/huraches.

Daniel, 82F (27C) doesn’t seem all that hot. Might there be other reasons for the blisters? Are the soles of your feet reasonably well-conditioned? Was your form off for some reason? Was your pace high/ Were you running hills? Any or all of the above might have contributed to the blisters.

Or the pavement may simply have been too hot. Different people have different sensitivities.

So do what i do. Drain the blisters. make sure the area around them is clean. Then apply some Krazy Glue to the edges. You limp a bit for a day or so, but you’ll be back to running in no time.

Yeah, 82F isn’t all that hot, but the pavement was a lot hotter. My feet aren’t as conditioned as yours, as I’ve only done about five actual barefoot runs. However, I have run for a year and a half only in VFFs (including three half marathons).

I’ve drained the blisters (standard practice for me) and am exposing them to the air as much as possible.

I am, indeed, limping today, but already notice it’s less than last night.

Given that you’ve only done five barefoot runs, Todd, it’s probably just a matter of conditioning. I had lots of blisters at the beginning, but that that’s because I did way too much too soon. Later, I was more sensible about increasing my barefoot distances, and didn’t have the same problems with blisters.

You sound as if you’re doing all the right things. I hope the healing goes well.

The roads in your hood must be better than the ones in mine. I find, here at least, that when I cross over a street from sidewalk-to-sidewalk the road contains much more in the way of pebbles and the like. The pavement is also a lot more rough.

Crossing the bigger thoroughfares here is much the same, i.e, rougher pavement, more pebbles and little sharp stones. Sometimes it helps to run on the painted crosswalk lines. Most of the time, though, I just tough it out and run as lightly as I can across the stuff.